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SB-1258 Building standards: graywater.(2007-2008)

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SB1258:v92#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 1258
CHAPTER 172

An act to add Sections 17922.12 and 18941.7 to the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 14877.1 of the Water Code, relating to building standards.

[ Approved by Governor  July 22, 2008. Filed with Secretary of State  July 22, 2008. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1258, Lowenthal. Building standards: graywater.
The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval and adoption.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to the commission relating to hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, and dwellings, and the buildings and structures accessory thereto, except as specified.
Existing law authorizes a city or county to make changes or modifications in the building standards proposed by the department and approved by the commission, to provide for local variances relating to local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions, upon making certain findings and filing those findings with the commission.
This bill would require the department, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle that commences on or after January 1, 2009, to adopt and submit to the commission for approval building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of graywater, as defined, systems for indoor and outdoor uses. The bill would terminate the authority of the Department of Water Resources to adopt graywater standards for residential buildings upon the approval by the commission of the standards submitted under the bill.
The bill would authorize a city, county, or other local agency to adopt, after a public hearing and enactment of an ordinance or resolution, building standards that prohibit entirely the use of graywater, or building standards that are more restrictive than the graywater building standards adopted by the department and published in the California Building Standards Code.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 17922.12 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

17922.12.
 (a) For the purposes of this section, “graywater” means untreated wastewater that has not been contaminated by any toilet discharge, has not been affected by infectious, contaminated, or unhealthy bodily wastes, and does not present a threat from contamination by unhealthful processing, manufacturing, or operating wastes. “Graywater” includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, bathroom washbasins, clothes washing machines, and laundry tubs, but does not include wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers.
(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of Division 7 of the Water Code, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle that commences on or after January 1, 2009, the department shall adopt and submit for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
(c) In adopting building standards under this section, the department shall do all of the following:
(1) Convene and consult a stakeholder’s group that includes members with expertise in public health, water quality, geology or soils, residential plumbing, home building, and environmental stewardship.
(2) Ensure protection of water quality in accordance with applicable provisions of state and federal water quality law.
(3) Consider existing research available on the environmental consequences to soil and groundwater of short-term and long-term graywater use for irrigation purposes, including, but not limited to, research sponsored by the Water Environment Research Foundation.
(4) Consider graywater use impacts on human health.
(5) Consider the circumstances under which the use of in-home graywater treatment systems is recommended.
(6) Consider the use and regulation of graywater in other jurisdictions within the United States and in other nations.
(d) The department may revise and update the standards adopted under this section at any time, and the department shall reconsider these standards at the next triennial rulemaking that commences after their adoption.
(e) The approval by the California Building Standards Commission of the standards for graywater systems adopted under this section shall terminate the authority of the Department of Water Resources to adopt and update standards for the installation, construction, and alteration of graywater systems in residential buildings pursuant to Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of Division 7 of the Water Code.

SEC. 2.

 Section 18941.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

18941.7.
 A city, county, or other local agency may adopt, after a public hearing and enactment of an ordinance or resolution, building standards that prohibit entirely the use of graywater, or building standards that are more restrictive than the graywater building standards adopted by the department under Section 17922.12 and published in the California Building Standards Code.

SEC. 3.

 Section 14877.1 of the Water Code is amended to read:

14877.1.
 (a) The department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University, Fresno, shall adopt standards for the installation of graywater systems. In adopting these standards, the department shall consider, among other resources, “Appendix J,” as adopted on September 29, 1992, by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, the graywater standard proposed for the latest edition of the Uniform Plumbing Code of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, the City of Los Angeles Graywater Pilot Project Final Report issued in November 1992, and the advice of the Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University, Fresno, on the installation depth for subsurface drip irrigation systems.
(b) The department shall include among the approved methods of subsurface irrigation, but shall not be limited to, drip systems.
(c) The department shall revise its graywater systems standards as needed.
(d) The authority of the department under this chapter to adopt standards for residential buildings shall terminate upon the approval by the California Building Standards Commission of the standards submitted to that commission pursuant to Section 17922.12 of the Health and Safety Code.